Here goes nothing

As much as I don't want or like to disclose my faults, I think my only reality may be to open up just a bit and share. Obviously I am taking the less road traveled and posting here, because as far as I know no one reads this compared to my facebook feeds!

So here it goes...

Surprise pregnancy ended November 2013 and without any effort I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight within a few weeks (2-3). I don't know if I just got the thought in my head I could drop an additional 10 pounds without trying, or that I could eat whatever I wanted to, because so far I had  been, and still lose weight. Or if the true reality was those first few weeks and well into 2 months postpartum, I was so busy with new adjustments and visitors I was actually moving and burning calories. In the past I had always dropped the weight and toned right back up within a short time period, so why would this time be any different.

BUT it is, not only have I gained back some of the weight I am tip toeing, no more like running at full speed towards my heaviest weight. I do know this, once turkey quit sleeping through the night (yep my child is backwards and slept through the night since day 1 until month 4ish) my sleep and eating habits changed dramatically and the weight started coming on. AND I MEAN ON! I gained 10 pounds in almost a month! So it may not be much of a fault, but there it is...I am not only heavier but I have so much 'fluff' I am starting to be extremely self conscious and there is NO WAY I am buying a bigger wardrobe!

What to do, what to do....

Now I am not one to complain about not getting gifts, but I can't tell you the last time I received a Christmas present (except money from my parents that I turn around and spend on the kids), birthday present (again except money I get from my parents, which either goes towards bills or kids....the two things I am not supposed to spend it on...sorry mom!), or a Mother's Day present.  So this year, I bought myself a combined gift for myself and shortly after purchasing it there was the guilt cause lets be honest there is always something that money could be used for...you know like food, bills, oil change for my car (you don't want to know how long I went without one!), but I sucked it up and now my 'present' has been trickling in over the past 2 weeks.

My present to myself is a 13.1, 15 week training program! Heck I haven't ran and the only walking I tend to do revolves around errands so why not just jump into a half marathon training program right!

http://anothermotherrunner.com/

This program offers 3 training options: walk/ run, run, or race it! If you read this before July 7th (start date of training) check out their site for more information, https://motherrunnerstore.com/shop/99/13.fun-half-marathon-challenge.

Here are the goodies I have gotten so far in the mail!

Today, I am one step closer to starting as the training programs were release for us to chose which one we'd complete. I also signed up for Strava, a free tracking (GPS) program, previously I had been using DailyMile, if you'd like to follow me click here or check out my wiget on the right side (hopefully it's working!).

This training will be an interesting one for me because not only have I rarely exercised since our little surprise Turkey arrived 7 months ago, but I will be pushing her in a stroller and Kayla has decided to accompany me on this journey. I am sure we will have a few interesting updates so stay tuned!

Vacation is over, back to work(outs)

Sunday: day off

Monday: virtual 5K week 7.1 workout (run 2.5 miles or for 25 minutes) resulted in 3.23 miles, with warm-up and cool down in 35 minutes.

Tuesday: gym day! And boy did a lot of people annoy me today. I know the gym we go to is a no judge gym BUT they really need to enforce some sort of dress code so some of us refrain from judgement. My first visual was a gal who is my height and probably weighed 100 pounds more than me (no judgement on my part here) and her workout clothing of choice: cut off skull jean shorts and by cut off I mean the shorts came just slightly below her tush! Her shirt choice was just as lovely, a sweatshirt which the sleeves had been removed, the neck line was also removed so that the 'shirt' laid ever so slightly off her shoulders...ok more like mid bicep to elbows, and to top off the look the bottom of the sweatshirt had also been removed so the bottom of her 'shirt' came to just below her bust line. Thankfully she did choose to wear a bra. And to top it off it didn't matter where I went in the gym, cause there she was.

Annoyance #2 (and in an attempt of not boring you to death I'm going to group several annoyances into this one) people talking on their cell phones. Our gym has signs posted everywhere! That cell phone use (except for listening to music) must be done in the front lobby, yep they have a huge lobby with tables and chairs, and couches, and a partial wall divider that also has the front desk I between the lobby and the gym area! But today there were multiple people just jabbing away on their phones and you guessed it, they seemed to all be next to me! Even in the locker room where all cell phone use is banned, there sat another one and to make it worse several staff members walked right by all of them and didn't say a word! Ugh!!!

Annoyance #3 (again to be nice I'm combining!) not wiping down machines after use. Yep the gym provides a large amount of spray bottles with disinfectant, ten million tons of paper towels, and they even have several trash cans (like 20+) placed all over so you can throw you paper towel away instantly (in some cases you may have to take 5 extra steps). And finally, I know I can't dictate how or why you chose to purchase a gym membership when all you do is just sit on the machines, but please don't come during busy times and just is there! Most of us are here to actually work out, not wait for you to quit people watching while occupying the machine.

Okay, I feel better! Today I started with a 15 minute warm up on the treadmill and got to see annoyance #1 walk in front of me three times! Then I moved on to my leg routine and attempted slightly higher weights with lower reps. Lets hope I can walk tomorrow!

Wednesday: Day off in order to attend Breanna's Special Olympics

Thursday: Well, I think it's official I caught the bug! In bed all day with slight fever and some other not so fun symptoms, except for a quick trip to take Breanna to play her first softball game (she missed three games while we were on vacation).

Friday: Yep, down for the count. Slept almost all day but am hoping I'm over the hump as I haven't had a fever at all today!

Saturday: And still down with this stupid bug! It took every ounce of effort to get up to take Bre to her baseball game today, which I honestly contemplated on not going, I know bad mom! But in my defense besides not feeling well, I didn't think it was worth my effort to get ready to take her to a 45 minute (usually less) game. I did put on my big girl panties, got ready, took her to McDonalds (drive thru) for lunch, and went to her game. After her game, even though I still felt like crap, we ran an errand to Target, and sadly once we got there I didn't recall what it was I was actually going to get, but we hit up the snack area for an ICEE, but the machines were down and the poor gal at the counter freaked out for a second because she knew instantly Bre wanted an ICEE even before asking us what we wanted. She was relieved to know that Bre was just as happy with a fountain drink, can I just say on a side note I just love the staff that work behind the snack counter, even though we don't go to Target often they each know Bre and know exactly what she wants to order!
Next we hit up Starbucks (of course) and let me tell you, I know I am definitely sick, that drink is still sitting in my fridge (it's Monday as I write this) with only a sip or two taken! Since I couldn't remember what I was there for, we made a quick round through the clothing and workout clothes section, then briefly looked at their patio and gardening section, and wrapped up our shopping trip by grabbing some basic groceries to get me through the next few days.

Overall, this week was awful! Here is hoping this bug is almost done running its course and next week will be amazing!

My vacation starts on Friday!!!

Yep that is right, as of Friday I am officially on vacation! And I am going to vaca instead of playing mom in another location, even if that means from today through Friday I bust my butt to make it happen. There will be tons of washing, packing, pre-cooking meals, pre-packing crockpot meals, making a (hopefully small) grocery list for items to buy when we get close to our location, workouts, tanning (I refuse to get burned while on vacation) and hopefully a bit of me time.

If you read last weeks post, you may have saw that Saturday our condo rental owner cancelled on us but it was her that found us an amazing deal (even though more than what we paid her and for 1 less day) at an amazing location. We went from a 2 bedroom,1.5 bath unit with a swimming pool and across the street from the Gulf of Mexico, to a 3 bedroom, 3 bath unit with 8 outdoor pools, 3 indoor pools, a lazy river, numerous water slides, 6 tennis courts, gyms, playground, 9 hot tubs...and the list goes on and on. If you'd like a sneak peak of where we are staying check out Caribe Resorts website or wait for up coming posts because I hope to have more than just my weekly, boring, workout updates!

Well its Sunday Funday, so lets get this week started, shall we?

Sunday: Family gym day, lame I know as Sundays are supposed to be my week off from all workouts and running, but Saturday just didn't have enough hours in it, although I really could have gone to the gym at midnight and burned off a lot of frustration! Bre was all attitude for most of the workout, she really didn't want to be there and she made sure everyone knew it!

Little miss attitude ended up getting her treadmill turned up about 8 times and in her angry voice assured me she was not doing weights today. I gave her the choice to either stay on the treadmill the entire time I worked out or she could join me. She chose to join me, which is good, cause I have no idea how I could have made her stay on the treadmill without supervision! Bre and I both worked on our arms and focused on increasing our weights which I am surprised she was able to do. I ended my workout time with a 10 minute session on the hydro massage bed and a quick tan, while she watched cartoons on her iPad.

Monday: Virtual 5K, 2.86 miles in 34 minutes.

Tuesday: It was supposed to by a gym day, but after running Eric some lunch I realized I had forgotten my iPod. What was supposed to be a quick run home to grab it turned into, 'lets pull some weeds' instead. Three (yes 3) hours later the stupid rock beds in the back yard are almost done. My lower is a bit stiff, my legs are killing me (I squat, instead of sitting), and my fingers...well I can't feel a few of them, and to top if off I have ruined another pair of gloves, stupid rocks! Who ever thought this was a great 'decorating' idea got it wrong, way wrong! So I might hit the gym or treadmill, or both, a bit later, or I may just sit on my tush and do nothing!

Completed 25 minute total body foam roller workout.

Wednesday: I don't' know what my problem is, but I hope this doesn't mean I am catching Eric's crud! Yep that is right, just days before we are due to go on vacation, Eric is sick, Bre's allergies are bothering her so much she has pulled out half of her eyelashes and her face, mainly around her mouth and nose, is beyond raw, and by the end of the night she was so congested she, herself, attempted to learn how to 'blow' her nose (yep she hasn't mastered that yet!).

I don't feel bad, no allergies (knock on wood) even though everything is covered in pollen, even after a storm passed through. But I am exhausted! I don't know if maybe in my head I am just a tad overwhelmed with this whole vacation thing...the cancellation of our condo, finding another place to stay for less days and more money, trying to get the housework done while mentally planning for what needs packed, what needs to be done before we go, what am I going to do about the refrigerated and frozen food I was planning on taking (cause now we are leaving a day earlier but can't check into the condo until Saturday after 4pm), Joey has a baseball game at 1 and as of today he now has another one at 3:30 and both games are about 30-45 minutes away from the condo and we will only have one car (Joey's will be at the school and will ride the bus there, but how do I get Eric to the school? hmmmm)...and it goes on, but I won't bore you with all that is rambling around in my head!

Overall, I am not feeling myself, I hope this feeling is just being overwhelmed a touch (because those who really know me, I am a planner and these little speed bumps of sick people and extra costs) and that I am not catching Eric's bug, which yesterday moved into his chest. I spent the majority of the morning in bed, just trying to relax and see if I could 'shake' this feeling, but next thing I knew something hit the window which startled me enough to wake me up...yep I fell asleep. Long story, short, I did absolutely nothing today! No housework, except I did take the trash and recycling out at 9pm, no exercising which of course I am kicking myself for, and for anyone who follows my food log on MFP, might notice my eating today, well it was awful! I am glad this day is over and I hope none of it repeats tomorrow!

Thursday: 2.92 miles in 33 minutes and that's all the exercise that I did today.

Friday: My vacation starts today! And we hope to be on the road by 1pm to beat the traffic. So my morning was filled with 3 loads of laundry, packing, and loading the car. We were on the road before 1 and arrived at Joey's baseball game shortly after it started and had to leave at the end of the 6th inning in order to drive across the bay to see Jordyn's second softball game. We then grabbed a quick bite to eat, checked into our hotel, thank you reward points for the free night, and all of us were in bed and asleep before 9! Great start to our vaca!

Saturday Bre and I were up by 7, having a bit of breakfast at the hotel by 8, and then off to run a few errands in order to let Eric sleep and hopefully recover from this bug he's had all week. We returned to the hotel by 11, checked out, and hit a few stores and grabbed some lunch before heading to Joey's double hitter.

That double hitter turned into 1 pitch and both games were called due to severe thunder storms. Which worked out in our favor as I was going to have to leave them at the end of game 1 to grab a few groceries and check into our condo at 4. The younger kids decided to head to the beach with their mom, so Eric and Joey grabbed them while I grocery shopped and then we all headed to the condo together. With so many of us, and all my food pre-planning it took us 4 huge carts to get all our stuff up to the place we will call home for the next week. Quick unload of the necessities, dinner in the oven, and everyone fed it was time for a little fun, so we headed to the indoor pool with a slight detour so Jayson could try out one of the water slides. We can't wait for tomorrow with high hopes of a storm free day (fingers crossed).

Daylight savings means springs around the corner...I hope!

Sunday: Spring forward isn't too bad....today! We decided to have a day off...from workouts, instead Eric, Bre, and I ran a few errands today to ensure we got out of the house on such a beautiful day. With a high of 77, even with winds gusting 10-20 mph, it's hard to justify staying indoors. Originally I had planned to take Bre to the Miracle Park, which is 100% handicap accessible, but then I remembered that our city is hosting a tennis tournament and a soccer tournament, both located next to the park.

 

Instead, we decided to go and grab some lunch and do a little pre-spring-break shopping (window shopping). We went to lunch at Logan's Roadhouse because I had a coupon, and while Bre flipped through the menu she quickly chose what she wanted...shrimp and steak. Even with waiting over 15 minutes on a server, she continued to tell us that is what she wanted. She ended up with chicken tenders and mac&cheese because...well, I am cheap! Even though in all reality she paid! After lunch, we crossed the parking lot and browsed Kohls. Again I had a coupon for an additional 30% off and their clearance today was 75-80% off, plus today was the last day to earn Kohls cash (although it seems they do this promo ALL the time now). I was in search for some new shorts and running shoes, for Bre we were in search for some workout pants (the kid won't wear shorts even if it was 120 degrees she'd still be in pants), new sweatshirts (pull overs only - at least she knows what she wants), she really could use a new pair of shoes, but she wasn't going to go that far in our shopping today! And Eric, for the most part was just there for the ride (and lunch!).

We didn't have any luck with items for Bre, Eric found 2 dress shirts, and I found a t-shirt for $3.90 and ended up with my second choice for running shoes. My first choice would have cost us more than what I ended up paying for everything we purchased. 

New running shoes!

My running shoe stash!

Our next stop was to the grocery store for some much needed items, and of course it didn't hurt that they do a 3 day sale starting today, which included several of the items we needed. Some things we didn't actually need right away, but with their sale price and my coupons, I couldn't pass up. Well that was our Sunday, funday.

Monday: Virtual 5K, week 2. I thought about just jumping in on Another Mother's recommended training schedule and focus on increasing my speed and time but today I decided I will redo my10K training during this virtual training/ race. In order to complete my training at the same time, this week will be week 5 of training for me. Broke in my new shoes today, 2.56 miles in 31 minutes. I feel a blister forming, lets hope I am wrong! I also completed Active's 5 core exercises.

Tuesday: Gym day! 10 minute warm-up, which as usual was on the treadmill. While I tend to keep it to a fast walking pace, I do alternate my speeds between 3.5-4.3, but I usually don't pay attention to my distance because, well, it's just a warm-up. Today, as I was ending my warm-up, instead of just hitting the reset button, I waited to see the distance....0.70 miles. Hmmmm, maybe I will just start jogging to get in a whole mile. Anywaaayyyyyssss...today I did my arm workout, and half way through, I realized it was a leg day...oops. Unfortunately, I didn't complete my overall workout which is usually 20-30 minutes on one of the stationary bikes, life kind of stepped in on my 'me' time. No problem, I will just do intervals on the treadmill....ha! Lets just say 'life' took up the rest of my day, now here it is 9pm and well, I guess I am going to do my 5 core exercises again.

Wednesday: Excuse me...why are my lungs burning??? OY! I hope this is just due to the massive amounts of pollen all over the place and not that I am getting sick. Today I completed 2.63 miles in 31 minutes.

Thursday: Remember how 'life' kind of took up most of my Tuesday? Well it took up part of today too, then on top of that, I haven't been feeling well most of the day, and...well...it's almost 5pm and I haven't done anything yet.

Already, I got something done! Eric had  sent me a text letting me know he wouldn't be home till after 7pm. Since I hadn't started dinner yet, Bre wanted soup, so I threw that in the microwave and got her all set to eat, threw on my workout clothes and jumped on the treadmill to do 30 minutes worth of intervals. I chose level 2, with an incline of 1, and a starting speed of 3.5, eventually I was walking at a speed of 4.5 (for 1 minute and 30 seconds) and running at a speed of 7 (for 30 seconds). This repeated 11 times and resulted in 2.37 miles.

Friday: Virtual 5K resulted in 2.59 miles in 31 minutes, I am still not feeling all that great so I kept my incline at 0 (I know that is just like running downhill) and my speed at 6.

Saturday: Where did the day go? No, seriously, where did it go? We were all up by 7:30am and now the day is completely over...like almost midnight over! All I kind of remember is Bre going outside to play basketball, since it so awesome outside (77 degrees with (warm) winds only up to about 7mph). Next we decided to go to the park (see first picture in this post for where we went) while Eric watched the end of the Alabama basketball game (about 45 minutes). Even with the park completely crowded, Breanna had a great time, she even saw someone that knew her, although she couldn't tell me the girls name. After the park we ran to Checkers to grab some milkshakes, I was good and didn't get myself one, but did attempt to take a sip of Bre's with her protesting loudly!

After picking up the shakes we ran back home to pick up Eric and for a quick bathroom stop, then went for a drive to look at houses. So my 'life' events this week have involved possibly buying a house in the area. At this time we have to consider many things and this is just one of them. The huge downfall....I still don't have a job. I have had 1 offer so far but the pay and hours were not worth accepting it. Eric and I have an agreement that if I don't have any good leads on employment by Spring Break, then we need to re-evaluate a few things, especially since Jarom is due to graduate NUAMES in December and plans on transferring to a college that offers his degree instead of staying at Weber, and Joey is due to graduate with his class next spring.

To top off the day about 6pm, our spring break rental owner texted me to let me know she was going to have to cancel our reservation...we are supposed to leave on Friday! We made these arrangements a month ago and even back then there were hardly any hotels or places to rent and now we need something in 6 days! Eric and jumped on our laptops and I contacted several friends in the area we are going to, to see if they had any connections or thoughts on what we could do. The gal who cancelled on us offered to see what she could do to help us, and thankfully she received one reply, which we jumped on! So as it comes close to midnight, we now have a possible rental - all the paperwork and payments still need to be made...which shall be interesting since we have already paid a deposit and rent on the other place...but hopefully by tomorrow we will be good to go and the money fairy will show some insight on how to pay for a second place, while we wait for refunds on the first.

I am glad this week is now over...not the best way to end the week, but next week starts my vacation and Spring Break, so bring it on!!!

(Insert workout title here...yeah I've got nothing!)

We seem to be starting off this week on the right foot...

Sunday: Family gym day...yep that is right Eric, Breanna, and I hit the gym today, although we weren't there as long as I wanted to be! But honestly, I didn't expect I'd get to stay the full 1 1/2 hours I usually do with everyone else in tow. We all started out on the treadmill, Eric soon left us, as Bre and I completed our 10 minute warm-up. Bre, being the 'class clown' that she is, starting cracking up those who were around us and who could actually hear her. Of course Bre wasn't happy to be at the gym, let alone being forced to walk on the treadmill, on several occasions I had to remind her to walk and not stomp! She soon loosened up and started singing (from what I can tell) a made up song about walking, the poor gal beside Bre had to stop running cause she couldn't stop laughing.
Onto the weights, today was my arm workout and Bre did pretty good taking turns with me on all the machines. Bre found it easier to help pass your workout time by counting, sometimes much quicker than she did her weight, which again gave all those around us a good chuckle...hopefully we didn't disrupt too many peoples workouts today.

Monday: Completed a virtual 5k today. I started with a .25 warm up which took 3:45 min minutes to complete. Since I am unsure what time I want to use here are all of them, with my warm up mileage included, 3.10 miles was completed in 30:08 minutes. My 5k plus the additional .25 mile warm-up resulted in a time of 32:2, and my total mileage/ time with warm-up, 5K, and cool-down resulted in 3.6 miles in 36:05 minutes. Confusing I know but broken down this results in 9.7 minute mile average, 9.61 minute mile average, or a 10 minute mile average.

Tuesday: Gym day today, started with a 10 min warm up on the treadmill, followed by my leg workout. I usually like to end my workout with a 20-30 minute ride on a stationary bike, but today the bikes were all full so I decided to do a quick tan in hopes for a bike to free up. Unfortunately non of them did, so I completed a 20 minute interval workout on treadmill, level 2, speed at 3.5 which increased and altered between 4.5 and 6.5, resulting in 1.49 miles.

Wednesday: Day off - totally not planned. I don't know what my problem was, but about 9:30am I felt extremely tired. I ended up being a total bum most of the day by staying in bed and I even slept here and there. I even called it an early night and slept 8+ hours, which is so not like me, usually I only sleep a max of 5-6 hours a night. So somewhere, someday, I really need to get my run in.

Thursday: Gym day, as usual, I started with a 10 minute warm-up on the treadmill followed by my arm workout. I even ventured and attempted a few ab machines I have never used before but have been secretly watching others use. I wish I could find a picture of both the machines I tried today to share, but I will say neither of them seemed to do anything for my abs, they both required more arm strength than ab strength. One of these days I am going to plan my gym times with their schedules to join a class and learn how to do more of their machines, but for now I will stick with what I know. I completed my workout with a 10 minute, high intense bike ride. I admit I should have stayed on longer, but I was too lazy to restart the bike and chose a lower intense workout.

Friday: Oh happy, happy, joy, joy....Eric worked day shift Thursday and arrived home at 6:30p, went back to work at 10pm to work all of third shift, came home around 7am today, slept for 2 hours or so and left at 9:30am to work a few hours...or so he said/ thought. I already knew my running time was going to be a bit off today as I was due to have an interview today, but then you throw in his work schedule mess and my consideration to allow him to sleep  and well....the run never happened. Sadly, neither did the interview, which is becoming a pattern with this staffing agency.

Saturday: Family gym day....again? Twice in one week? holy moly we might actually develop a habit! Actually Eric and his friends, I call them his girlfriends because these guys can sit around for days gossiping...yep you read that right gossiping, but that is another story for a different blog post (that will probably never happen! - At least I am honest!) Well why the 'girls' were gossiping Bre and I put on our gym clothes and headed out the door. She was NOT happy! But it kind of stinks being the kid!

Bre and I started with our 10 minute warm-up walk, hmmm let me clarify, I walked at a nice fast pace, she took 2 steps would stop, while standing on the belt, wait till she got almost to the end and take a few more steps to get back to the front of the treadmill. My first thought was, that the gym adventure was a HUGE mistake and I almost told her to come on and lets go home, but then that is what she really  wanted. So mean mom told her every time she did it I would increase her speed. She caught on really quick and limited her 'ride' to only a few more times.

After our warm-up, we did the arm machines we had done on Sunday and then I did part of my leg workout, since this gym trip was to be my leg workout. Bre even attempted a few of the leg machines, although she wasn't too successful on most of them, partially because she didn't quite understand how to use them and the other reason was she was too short for half of the machines I use. Half way through our workout we saw Ms. Chatty Cathy aka Eric, at the gym, since our workouts are completely different the next time we saw him was when we were leaving.

So besides my lack of running this week, I think overall this was a fairly productive week. For next week I have decided I am going to join in on a virtual 5K training/ program sponsored by Another Mother Runner. This week was week 1 of 10 weeks of training, the goal is to have other mother runners (even those want-to-be's) train and then run their race Mother's Day (weekend). Click here for a race bib and to find the link to their training schedule.

The treadmill

If anyone reads my posts, especially my running/ workout posts, you know that I stick with the treadmill instead of taking my running/ walking outside. I came across a few facts that I felt were pretty important when it comes to working out on the treadmill, and honestly I don't recall where I found the info, but once I find it I will insert proper credit and a link. But for now...here is what I'd like to share:

Speed on treadmill = __ minute mile

Miles per hour	Minutes per mile
5	12
6	10
7	8:34
8	7:30
9	6:40
10	6
11	5:27
12	5

Calories burned

Walking (3 to 4mph)
   Total calories burned per mile = .53*weight in pounds
   Net calories burned per mile = .30*weigh in pounds
Running (5.0 or higher)
   Total calories burned per mile = .75*weight in pounds
   Net calories burned per mile = .63*weight in pounds

Week off....week on

As you may (or may have not) noticed, I took last week off...from everything, but stuffing my face. I didn't even weigh or take my measurements on Friday and I completely slacked on tracking my food on MFP. I decided that since my birthday fell on a Friday, I would take the following week off of everything but housework (and even that was minimal!).

Now that my birthday celebration week is over (no I didn't do anything fun or exciting!) its back to the grind. Eric and I joined a gym yesterday, spring break is right around the corner and we rented a condo on the beach for 8 nights and I will be in a bikini regardless of what I look like, cause this momma needs a tan!!! Unfortunately, due to the extreme flooding we are having (yet again), it looks like my first gym workout might have to wait until Wednesday. Regardless, it's time to get this week started...

Sunday: Day off
Monday: Ran week 9 of 10K training. 5 minute warm-up followed by 10 minute run, 1 minute walk (repeat for a total of 4 times), and completed with a 5 minute cool-down, at an incline of 1. Today's run resulted in 4.86 in 53 minutes.

.

Tuesday: Whoo hoo, the rains stopped, the severe weather we were supposed to get missed us and our winds today are only up to 45 mph. Besides the wind (here and there), the sun is out and our high is almost 70, so I am hitting the gym. Since the gym we joined is fairly new, open only 2 weeks, it is going to be a gamble on finding a time to go when it isn't too crowded.
9:30am workout, is a bit of a busy time, for now. When Eric and I signed up the gym was so busy with people checking in and signing up that they were unable to show anyone around and today was just the same. In retrospect, I should have followed a few families on their tour. My experience today was basically fend for myself and figure things out, I am thinking next time I may just schedule some time with someone to show me the ropes and get some suggestions. Today I started with a 10 minute warm-up on the treadmill (speed between 4-4.3) followed by arm workout and a quick tan session.

Wednesday: so much to do today, so taking the day off

Thursday: Gym day!  But first I have to pay bills...one of my least favorite things to do cause there is nothing like seeing a nice size paycheck disappear in a matter of minutes! I arrived at the gym about 10:30am and it was just as busy as it was on Tuesday, but most of the people seemed to be using the weights or were waiting for some of the 'privelages' (tanning, massage chairs and beds) than on the cardhttp://www.myfitnesspal.com/io machines. Of course I opted to start with a 10 minute warm-up on the treadmill. Our gym has two rows of treadmills (easily 30 or more of them) and only 3 other people using them. I positioned myself so I was no where near either of the others BUT 4 minutes into my warm-up a gal comes and gets on the treadmill right next to m, REALLY???? out of all the other open treadmills YOU HAVE TO BE RIGHT NEXT TO ME???? My 10 minutes could not have been up soon enough! A quick drop off of my stuff into the locker room and it's time to hit the weights...it's leg day! I ended my workout with a 20 minute bike ride which resulted in almost 4 miles.

Friday: Oh my...my calves are screaming at me! My initial plan was to do another week 9 workout, but I don't think my calves are going to handle an hour run, so 3 miles seems more appropriate. With a 5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool-down my workout totaled 3.66 miles in 38:48 minutes. I was only able to cut off a little time because I was playing around with my speeds (6-7)

Saturday: Today is supposed to be a gym day, but here it is 1pm, my calves are still killing me, no matter how much I stretch them, massage them with my foam roller (which hurts so badly it could make you cry!), and Eric, who swore he was going to the gym is still sitting in front of the tv flipping between movies and sports games. I know I could just go, but to be honest it's so cold outside, I am quite content sitting under my electric blanket watching Disney movies with Bre. Looks like it might be a late gym visit, or it will have to wait until tomorrow!

Yeah, I work out...

Well here it is Tuesday...yes Tuesday and I am just sitting down to try and figure out what I want to do this week in terms of exercise. To be honest, I really don't want to do anything! I think I am at that point where I have lost weight, but feel bigger (fatter) than before, have nothing to look forward to because I don't have any new running goals set, and it seems that I can't shove enough junk food in my face quick or long enough. So, with all that now out on the table, I still have no clue what I am going to do, but I do know I need to do something to help get me out of this rut!

Sunday: Day off

Monday: Severe weather in our area! We found out that those pesky tornado sirens can wake us up in the middle of the night because they went off at 1:10am. I slept on and off in 30-minute increments until it was time to get Bre ready for school and then was notified at 9:30 that schools were being dismissed early due to flooding. Thankfully the rain would stop long enough to let our flooding subside a bit before the next batch hit us, otherwise we would have had water coming into several of our windows on the backside of our house. Due to the severity of the weather, and Bre now arriving home early from school, and the lack of sleep I sat around all day long...yep didn't even get to my typical Monday chores other than vacuuming the tile (that covers the majority of our house).

Tuesday: Everyone expected that schools would be canceled today as we were to get another 6 inches of rain last night (by 4pm yesterday we had 8.5 inches), but thankfully we didn't get too much rain and schools (at least our county) were in full session, hurray!!! But now I have no excuse to not get busy and active...so, I did my ab workout, tried a standing ab workout, and decided that it would be in my best interest to use some training program that I could access on my phone, SOOOOO until I find something new, I decided to restart 10K training starting at week 9. Today's workout (aka 2 episodes of Big Bang Theory) resulted in 4.87 miles in 53 minutes.

Wednesday: ab workout (oy this is getting tough!) In order to procrastinate on some of my household chores, I decided to run a quick 3 miles, I included a 5 minute warm-up (.33 miles) and 5 minute cool-down (also .33 miles). Total for today 3.66 miles in 40 minutes.

Thursday: I forgot to mention that while I am redoing parts of the 10K training I have decided to increase my incline on the treadmill and I have to say it is kicking my butt. Either changing my incline from 0.5 to 1.0-1.5 is that much of a difference OR I am more out of shape that I think I am. Regardless, today's run resulted in 4.86 miles in 53 minutes.

Friday: It's my birthday and I don't have to do anything...except make myself some apple crisp for breakfast, clog the sink, take 3 hours to unclog it (with breaks here and there), get a call from the hubs to go out to lunch at (get this) 11:30 as I am covered in sink goo...yea I think I will pass. 12:30 I am still working on the sink, thinking about giving up and going for a run even though I had no intention of running cause it's my birthday present to myself (you didn't think I'd get one from anyone else did you???), hubby comes home, starts to change his clothes...um I'm confused....oh "by the way" he tells me as he is making himself lunch, "I took the rest of the day off cause it's your birthday" UGH, guess I could have taken a shower and met him for lunch. Sooooo for my birthday, after he eats lunch, he takes a nap in the recliner, then plays video games for the rest of the day AND night! Happy Birthday to me! (Is this day over yet?) It gets worse, but it's so not worth writing about...it's over, it's just another day, just wished it could have been more of a 'routine' day. Yea I should have ran...maybe more than once!

Saturday: We were supposed to be going out of town today, but due to the weather, extra costs of Bre and I going (hotel, food, entertainment), and yes lack of communication...I decided Bre and I would stay home while Eric went to go watch the kids play baseball and softball...Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. My frustration, which should have been taken out on the treadmill, was in turn, taken out by being lazy and staying in comfy clothes (and mostly in bed) ALL DAY! I ate junk, while I fed Bre more nutritious meals along with a few 'not so healthy fun treats'. We watched cartoons, movies, listened to music, and had lots of snuggle time (which is the best, especially coming from an 18 year old...yep just one of the benefits of having a disabled child). Hopefully next week is a bit more productive!

10K Training is over....

Last week was my last week of 10K training and sadly I am not sure exactly what I am going to do. I am thinking I might just get on the treadmill on my run days (Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays) and just run till I decide to get off I might try to get the nerve to take my runs outside...maybe start with walking to find some different distance routes, or maybe just pick a week and restart from there...who knows. I know I should know what I am going to do because it's Monday!

Ho hum...

I do know I am planning on continuing with my ab workout,  which I am still in the pretty easy stages, thank goodness! Lets hope this is a productive week!

Sunday: arm workout (last day)
Monday: ab workout, decided to just get on the treadmill and from there determine how long or far I wanted to go. After my 5-minute warm-up and about a mile into a run, I decided I would just run 3 miles (not including warm-up or cool-down distance). Totals were 3.66 miles in 39:42 minutes. 
Tuesday: ab workout
Wednesday: ab workout, 3 mile run with warm up and cool-down resulted in 3.66 miles
Thursday: ab workout
Friday: ab workout, 30 minute love affair with the treadmill resulted in 2.9 miles
Saturday: cough, cough...SLACKER...cough, cough

Week 14

Okay, sue me...I took a week off, and I am not even sorry! AND I am not even going to blame Eric for his lousy schedule for my week off (even though that was my main reason) cause, lets all be honest, I don't HAVE to run inside on my treadmill...I choose too. Yep, my name is slacker, and I am proud of it...

Welcome to my final week of 10K training. I can already admit I will be re-doing several of these training weeks and adding my own 'goals' with each week, whether it's to increase my speed on the treadmill, adding inclines, or take my running outside (no...I am such a hermit when it comes to running where people can see me!).

My week is already off to a slight twist (which you can read below), so here is to the last week of training...

Workout 1 and 2: 5 minute warm-up, run 60 minutes (no breaks/ walking), 5 minute cool-down.
Workout 3: Either do above workout OR 5 minute warm-up, run 10K, 5 minute cool-down.

Sunday: Day off
Monday: With Eric working two shifts for the last two weeks, the lack of sleep and 'bugs' going around, he is down for the count...until he gets an email that his boss called out sick too. He ended up going into work about 10:30 just in time for me to get ready for an interview. I got home just a bit before 4pm and Breanna returned home from her first special olympics bowling practice/ game at 4:10 and attempting to run with either of them in the house is pointless. I know I could have hit the streets but it was 76 degrees, so yeah NO, I am not running today.
A friend of mine pinned a 7  day arm challenge on pinterest the other day, http://skinnyms.com/summer-arms-challenge/, so I decided I would add that to my workout this week, today was the first workout. I have to admit I don't think I ever did the triceps push ups the correct way, as much as I tried and YES I watched the video multiple times! Sad thing is I could mimic the moves while sitting, but the minute I got into position my dang elbows went out instead of staying close to my body. The back of my arms are already killing me, so maybe I was close in having a correct form. Lets hope I see some results at the end of the week!
On a fun note, my dress pants I wore to my interview were too big! Too bad I didn't have a belt...I just hope no one noticed I was constantly pulling them up!

Tuesday: I went to start my run today and this is what I saw...lame-O
Usually the 'lube belt' message is no big deal because I can over ride it up to 5 times, BUT I am only able to run up to 5 miles per over ride and today's run was definitely going to be longer than 5 miles, so break out the tools and lube and lets get this done.
45 minutes later, belt lubed, treadmill re-tightened and centered, and the 'slipping' kinks all worked out and we are in business to start my workout. My run went pretty well, but I have decided that 45-minutes of being on the treadmill is long enough for me, after 45 minutes, I am bored, constantly looking at how much time I have left, only to be disappointed that the timer hasn't moved at all since the last time I looked at it. I even resorted to watching a movie on Bre's iPad and that didn't help! Needless to say I did complete my 60 minute run...finally, totaling 6.67 miles (yes I did a few seconds longer on my cool-down to make sure those weren't all 6's).
I also completed day 2 of the 7 day arm challenge, and I didn't realize it until I started, but MY ARMS HURT!!!

Wednesday: Day off

Thursday: Arm workout, thank goodness for a day off (yes it was a scheduled day off, not me 'cheating'). So I think I may become one of 'those' people... you know, the ones who insist on running on a treadmill, watching TV or a movie. Since my runs are soooooooooooooooo much longer, I find myself getting bored and I start losing motivation to finish my run (yea I know if I ran outside I probably wouldn't have that problem because I would still have to get home when that feeling set in!) so between this run and last, I have realized Bre's iPad is the best solution for watching anything, the only downfall, less options on what to watch, and having my iPod nearby in case I find myself searching for something to watch. Today's run was 6.67 miles (yep ran a few extra seconds to make sure those weren't all 6's) in 70 minutes.

Friday: Today is Feb 1st and that means I am adding an additional workout to my routine...I found an ab workout plan called six-pack March that I will be following...there are several similar workout plans, such as fab ab February, mad ab March, ab-tastic April... (you get the idea). I know it is NOT March, but I printed out this schedule last month, so that's the one I am following.
Friday's are my weigh in and measurement days, sadly I didn't have much change and there definitely has not been a change in my arm measurements (not that I was expecting any at this point), but here is to another workout day for arms!

Saturday: I am living up to my name of 'slacker'...I didn't get my run in, but I did do the arm and ab workouts.

Week 13...10K training is almost done

This weeks workout:
1) 5 minute warm-up, run 22 minutes, then walk 1 minute, repeat, 5 minute cool-down, for a total of 55 minutes - whoo hoo for a shorter run week! (WRONG...should have looked ahead before posting).
2) 5 minute warm-up, run 25 minutes, then walk 1 minute, repeat, 5 minute cool-down, for a total of 61 minutes
3)  5 minute warm-up, run 30 minutes, then walk 1 minute, repeat, 5 minute cool-down, for a total of 71 minutes

A few motivational quotes for this week:
"Fear is what stops  you...courage is what keeps you going."
"You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it."
"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."
"No matter how good you get you can always get better and that's the exciting part." ~Tiger Woods
"Whatever you can do, or think you can, begin it. Boldness has power, and genius, and magic in it."
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~Arisotle
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." ~Maya Angelou

Sunday: Day off

Monday: Is it bad to start doing Just Dance moves when you hear a song, while running on the treadmill? Don't judge! But I tried it, it didn't really work but it made my run that much more entertaining. After hearing two songs, Dynamite (3) and Call Me Maybe (4), I had to grab my iPod to finish my run in order not to seriously injure myself. During my cool-down, I flipped the radio back on and another Just Dance song came on!!! On The Floor (4), at least with this song there is NO WAY to do any of the moves on the treadmill! 5.13 miles in 55 minutes. Now to go play Just Dance! Finally broke down and bought a total body foam roller...in heaven!!!

Tuesday: Day off
Wednesday: I am going to start off this entry with a rant...
1) I am sooooo tired, Eric started running a third line (shift) at work this week and of course since he is the project manager he has volunteered (his own doing) to not only work all of 3rd shift but he has also been working almost all of 1st shift too. On one hand yea me for extra time to myself, BUT these extra hours do not equal extra pay AND I am a routine girl, which means my schedule is thrown off because he has been coming home hours earlier than normal.
2) By 6am we had already hit our high for the day...68 degrees, it's cloudy, muggy, and by the time I started running it was 74 degrees, so much for the weatherman's forecast!
3) I finally decided to burn my running playlist to a CD so I wouldn't have to either blast my computer speakers or put on my iPod...but I have too many songs for 1 CD, ughhhh another thing to add to my check list, cut down songs and burn to CD.
4) What I thought was going to be an easy week of running (55 minutes each workout) was WRONG!!! Every workout is different...must edit earlier sections! Oh and did I already say it's HOT and I have to run longer???
5) This has been on my mind for quite a while, part of the reason that it still exists is a) I am lazy, b) not quite sure what to do at this point, c) not sure if I trust anyone to make this decision for me...my hair! It is long, as usual (I only cut it 1-2 times a year), I like it long cause again I am lazy, I just wash and put tons of hair products in it to keep the curl and reduce the possible frizz (oh the joys of curly hair). I usually pull it up into a ponytail when I run but ti seems that my hair is either in the way OR increasing my sweating (or helping the sweat 'stream' to other part of my body - I will let your imagination figure that one out!). So I need to either decide to cut it (how much?), wear it a different way (where it won't bounce or 'stream' sweat into/ onto other parts of my body), or just leave it and deal with the outcomes.
Okay I guess I should get to my workout...Today's adventure was quite fun, I played a new game (I had to come up with something otherwise I might have tried Just Dance again on the treadmill). My game was to focus on the actual lyrics of my running playlist songs, word by word, line by line, and if something popped out at me I'd jot it down on my writing pad on my phone. Yes I have my phone on the treadmill with me, my running app is on it. Surprisingly it was quite a distraction because my attention was on the words of songs not how much further I needed to run. Time flew by until my hamstrings started making a fuss (15 minutes before my workout was completed). Today's workout resulted in 5.74 miles in 61 minutes.
Thursday: Day off
Friday: Friday, Friday, Friday!!! (shouted in a megaphone!) Here is hoping that Eric's attempt to work double shifts comes to an end today...or his employer decides to pay him extra! I am completely dreading today's workout, two 30 minute runs with ONLY a 1 minute rest in between, OY! Okay, I just looked ahead to next weeks workout...a full 60 minute run each day. Enough procrastinating.
My workout today wasn't as bad as I thought, other than a sharp pains in my left knee (previously injured). I started out playing my lyrics game again but quickly my thoughts started to flow, and these thoughts were powerful enough (for me) that I had to start writing stuff down, so yeah I took a break here and there to jot down some of those thoughts. Over the weeks of doing these workouts I have realized that about ten minutes into it, my mind becomes so creative. Unfortunately, by the time I get to the end of my workout, I don't remember one single thing! I know somewhere we have a tape recorder, so I am thinking I need to search for that this weekend and place it on my treadmill (yes I still only run on my treadmill), who knows I may have more posts on my blog(s) or maybe I will come up with that get rich scheme....I mean plan!
Anyways, today's workout resulted in 6.73 miles in 71 minutes.
Saturday: Day off

Week 12

This weeks workout: 5 minute warm-up followed by running for 18 minutes, then walk for 1 minute (repeat for a total of 3 times), end with 5 minute cool-down, for a total of 66 minutes.

Sunday: Day off
Monday: We (okay I'm) playing the blame game today. My run sucked because: I found out at 7am hubby took two days vacation (we could have gone somewhere), too much coffee (is there such a thing?), need new running shows (hint, hint to hubby who is home!), running on treadmill (oh wait I do that every time), annoying running socks (hint I need new socks too), too hot, the radio played more commercials than actual songs (I know, I know, one should not listen to the radio while running).
Okay enough blaming here's the deal - left knee is killing me (right under my knee cap, the one location that it seems like you can never 'stretch' out), right sock won't stay where it is supposed to be, slipped on the treadmill three times (I still have no idea how I didn't fall on my face!), hubby keeps coming in (he thinks he is being cute and funny), and this workout is taking way too long!
Note to self: if hubby is home lock all doors into room with the treadmill, do not try to listen to the radio during long runs, take more time to stretch before running , run Forest (Trina) run (turn annoying run into frustration, then take it out on the treadmill or pavement)!
Today's workout resulted in 6.17 miles in 66 minutes.
Tuesday: Day off
Wednesday: As much as I don't like being frustrated or annoyed, I have to admit it makes for a great run! Today's run 6.2 miles in 66 minutes.
Thursday: Day off
Friday: 6.2 miles in 66 minutes
Saturday: Day off

Now...on to week 11

Now that my slacker week is over, it's time to get busy and running!

Week 11's workout: 5 minute warm-up, run 17 minutes then walk 1 minute (repeat 3 times), 5 minute cool-down, total of 63 minutes.

The app I use for my running schedule displays motivational quotes each time you open it and I tend to post a few of the ones I really like on my Facebook page every once in a while, but I thought I'd share a few on this post as well. Unfortunately the true authors aren't listed to give proper credit and lets be honest, I am too lazy to look them up. So apologies in advance for not giving credit where credit may be due!

"If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up!"
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
"No matter who you are, no matter what you do, you absolutely, positively do have the power to change."
"No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch."
"There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don't allow yourself to become one of them." ~Ralph Marston
"The secret to getting ahead is getting started." 
and lastly "If the word quit is part of your vocabulary, then the word finish is likely not."

Sunday: Day off
Monday: 5.84 miles in 63 minutes
Tuesday: Happy New Year!!! Day off but here are my 2012 stats: 122 workouts, 393 miles (if I had noticed I was that close to 400 I would have ran just a bit longer on my last run, or maybe not have skipped last week...bummer!).
Wednesday: Eric went back to work today, so Bre and I had a little bit of snuggle time, followed by lunch with Eric and a little shopping. I decided to get myself a few new sports bras and attempted to get a few shorts, but I guess my size is a popular size, so I only ended up with one pair...oh well. Today's run was pretty awesome, only 2 interruptions from Bre today...should may have tried a few more but I had my iPod on pretty loud (and with a new play list) and I was able to find (and keep) my zone (focus) for almost my entire workout, so even though she was right beside me, she wasn't there! Today's run totaled 5.84 miles in 63 minutes.
Thursday: Finally our house is back into it's normal routine, everyone returned to school and work and the house is all mine!!! Plus it's my workout day OFF, can you say bonus for me????
Friday: Cold and lazy day for me today, although not as cold as some of the kids 'other' houses. Jarom and MyKayla were only at 7 degrees (felt like negative 6 degrees) when there schools started and by the time they were out of school their temp had doubled to a whopping 14 degrees. Usually I don't pay too much attention to their weather unless I hear of a storm heading through, mainly because they live in Utah so they are supposed to have snow and cold temps this time of year, however, I guess one of my friends was trying to make a point to me on Facebook this morning when she tagged me in her screen shot of Utah temperatures that morning. Now don't get me wrong, on one hand I am not complaining that it's absolutely freezing here, BUT, I live in the south! The last winter we were here I wore shorts, t's, and flip flops all year round! And to be honest, if it's going to be this cold, I'd rather be back in the PNW with mountains and snow!
Besides my lazy day, MyKayla and I decided to have a Dance 4 competition. Since we live 2000 miles away we chose the same songs and then tried to get the highest points. I lost...each time! But on some songs I actually came pretty close to her, so it wasn't too bad especially since this was my first time playing the game. I decided I'd 'dance' with her until dinner was ready and then run after dinner BUT...(bet you saw that coming!) as I was getting the last bit of dinner ready Eric called...again. I joked that he better have been in an accident since he was bugging me so much by calling, in which he responded he had a flat tire and was up the street. Of course instead of pulling through the intersection and into the gas station, he pulled onto a side street and that is where he was sitting when Bre and I went to go pick him up. Since dinner was on the stove and oven and it was still the middle of rush hour, we decided to head home and eat and then we would return to deal with the car. After we returned, we got the car across the street and started to put air in the flat tire, unfortunately the air was coming out just as fast as it was being pumped into the tire...a complete side blow-out. Regardless now we were at least at the gas station, with decent light (and a flashlight), and changed out the tire. Afterwards, I made a quick call to SAM's to see if their tire department was still open (the warehouse was due to be open for another hour and a half) but they had just closed...guess I know what we are doing tomorrow! Now it is after 8pm and I half way want to just jump on the treadmill and get this workout over with and the other half of me is saying...'your workout won't be over until 9:15...if you get on the treadmill NOW!' Yea I am running tomorrow...
Saturday: prepare to fall of your chair, or whatever you are sitting on...I actually did my workout today! 5.87 miles in 63 minutes!

Scratch that...week off?

It's the week of Christmas and of course my entire weekly routine is off, and to top it off I either didn't plan my last grocery trip very well or I have a bunch of lushes and pigs in my house! The kids are even so desperate that instead of going without 'their milk' (whole milk) for a few hours, they have confiscated my milk (non-fat) to satisfy their thirst and need for 'sugary' cereal.

This weeks workout, week 11: 5 minute warm-up, 17 minute run, 1 minute walk (repeat run/walk for a total of 3 times), 5 minute cool-down for a total of 63 minutes.

So just a little info on my posts that are about running/ working out. I tend to start writing Sunday or Monday and then add to the post each day I actually 'do' something. I actually started this post on Sunday and here it is Tuesday and I am already making changes, mainly canceling my weekly workout.

Monday: was the last full day we had half of the Brady Bunch kids at home so I decided not to run. I think I make up today's run on Tuesday, even though it will be Christmas, Eric will be driving the kids back to their moms, which will take about 6+ hours, so I will have plenty of time.

Tuesday: My run never happened (bet you already guessed that)! Instead...

Red areas: Greatest Chance of Severe weather aka tornadoes

The first section of the storm started around 4ish. Some how we lucked out and the east winds were just strong enough that the storm literally changed directions right before it reached our house. The next main town, west of us, confirmed the first tornado at 4:38pm. Seven other tornadoes were confirmed within the next two hours.

The second (worst part of the storm) was first estimated to hit us around midnight and last throughout the night, but thankfully it hit us a bit earlier, around 10:30-11pm. We started with a nice lightening and thunder show courteous of the next town over, and then change to wind (gusting up to 40mph) and rain.

Eric and I stayed up until they lifted the tornado warnings (2 am) while Breanna slept in our room in a made up bed on our floor. The girls choice of purchasing a chair that folds into a bed has come in handy a few times.

Wednesday: After a few hours of sleep, we woke up to freezing temps, so we decided to lay low at home and in our 'comfy' clothes all day. While putting some things in the recycling bin (out in the garage), I heard what sounded like air blowing. I asked Eric to come and help me figure out what it was, but after a quick check of my car, which was in the garage due to the storm (and a broken windshield), we couldn't figure out what the noise was or where exactly it was coming from, so we headed back inside. A few hours later I went to grab some food out of the outside fridge and low and behold I figured out what that stupid noise was.

Yep a massive, flat tire! Guess I know what my Christmas present is going to be (yeah, yeah, I know Christmas is over!). We spend the next few hours (don't ask!) putting the spare tire on the car. Not sure if you can tell in the picture, but my car is parked in the garage backwards, did I mention my car barely fits in most garages! It was quite an experience trying to get the jack and necessary tools out of the back of the car and THEN get the spare tire to drop from underneath the car. Tomorrow, we will go and  either see if this tire can be patched or if we need to buy new tires...it's about time for all 4 of them to be replaced anyways....now do you see where the present comes in? Have you priced tires for a SUV! OY!!!

Thursday: I can't believe this week is almost over, but at least I was able to catch up on some sleep today. Didn't get up till almost 10, out the door by 11:30, quick stop at Sam's to get my tire fixed, another quick stop to Walmart to get a few groceries, and back home to start cleaning up Christmas. It's funny how long it takes to get all the Christmas stuff up (tree, lights, decorations) but it all comes down so quickly! Within an hour or so, everything was down and repacked, the garage was re-organized, the bins, boxes, and tree were in their spots, and the carpets were vacuumed. Now my mind is racing on the thought of purging and decluttering the entire house, I just need to decide on what room I am going to start with.

Friday: Just not feeling it today....that's right it's another bum around in our comfy clothes kind of day. While I'd like nothing more to write that I sat around and did nothing, of course that just wasn't the case. The sad part about others in the house being on winter break or vacation, I have more cooking, cleaning, and laundry to do. Between doing all of that, we (I mean I) managed to watch a handful of movies. Sadly I am not fond of movies, most anything on the television tends to be more of background noise than drawing my full interest, but none the less I did watch bits and pieces of 5 of them. Now with dinner done, cleaned up, Breanna bathed (and no she didn't sit in the tub for hours tonight), we are in our PJ's and ready for some snuggle time. So until tomorrow....

Saturday: Yea we are a bunch of slackers. The most we did today is get out of our pj's and into comfy clothes! Here is to a more productive next week!

Here we go week 10, here we go...

That's right ladies and gents (assuming anyone even reads this), it is week 10 of my 10K training.

This week's workouts start with a 5 minute warm-up, then run for 15 minutes, walk for 1 minute, repeat for a total of 3 reps, followed by a 5 minute cool-down. Total workout time is 57 minutes.

Sunday: day off
Monday: Not sure if I am trying to catch up on sleep today or what, but my day started out with turning off the alarm clock, Bre missing her bus, me running her to school, getting her in her classroom just before the bell rang to be told by her teacher that she was marking her absent as we were walking in the door (not sure how that is possible since the bell hadn't rung yet, but whatever), finished wrapping presents, took a nap from 2-3:30 with a slight interruption when the phone rang, and finally getting on the treadmill at 4:15pm, even though I would have rather just gone to bed. Today's run resulted in 5.28 miles in 57 minutes.
Tuesday: day off
Wednesday: I have no idea where the day went, but all of a sudden it was 5:30pm  and I hadn't ran yet, oops! 5.26 miles in 57 minutes.
Thursday: day off
Friday: 'It's the end of the world as we know it!' (REM) The Mayan calendar ended today, the world didn't end, but the Brady Bunch household celebrated with cake for breakfast, watching movies, eating popcorn, and just enjoying the day together. My run today resulted in 5.25 miles (I have no idea how each run ended with different results, but whatever!) in 57 minutes AND with me winning the 'WORST MOM IN THE WORLD AWARD'. After dinner I put Ms Bre in the bath and I guess she didn't hear me when I told her she could get out, which we didn't realize until AFTER I finished my run. Sadly she must have sat in that bath for at least an hour and a half, if not two hours.
Saturday: day off

Drum roll please...

I know it has been killing you wondering what I was going to do since I finished my Couch to 5K training program. Well call me crazy but I don't foresee running a 5K any time soon, so I thought I'd move onto training for a 10K. The app I been using offers several other free apps so it was a no brainer on choosing what to do next.

The 10K training program is a 14 week program, that is designed for the beginner runner. Since I have already completed their 5K training, I now have to decide do I want to start from week 1 or jump to where I left off. So here we go....

This weeks workout is alternating a 10 minute run with a 1 minute walk (4 times) after a 5 minute warm-up and ending with a 5 minute cool-down.

Sunday: day off
Monday: 4.82 miles in 53 minutes
Tuesday: day off
Wednesday: I didn't want to run, but I did. I even kicked Eric out of the bed and bedroom (he was home sick today) so I could run before Ms sassy pants got home from school. I changed my clothes, blasted my new running mix of songs, turned my running app on, and walked off my negative thoughts of not wanting to run. As I began my run, I noticed I had a nice tempo going...and then...my app told me it was time to start walking....oops I picked the wrong week, instead of week 9 I picked week 1, yea huge difference. But no worries, it just meant I either needed to run week 1 (a 30 minute - easy workout) or watch the clock...stupid me chose to watch the clock. Besides watching the clock, for some reason my sock decided it didn't want to stay in place, so with several stops here and there to pull the stupid thing up and the annoying hassle of calculating when to run/walk/ cool down this workout is finally done! 4.81 miles in 53 minutes
Thursday: Day off
Friday: My sleep schedule has sucked a$$ this week, but shouldn't be an excuse for not running.  So I will blame it on Eric who has been either home or sent home almost all week (annoying!!!). Needless to say between being glued to the television all day watching the events unfolding on the school shooting in Newtown, CT and Eric being home most of the day my 10K training run did not occur. HOWEVER, after feeling beyond bloated all day, I finally got my fat butt on the treadmill at 7:30pm (yea not ideal but whatever!). I walked .25 miles, than ran .75. Total miles 2 (bragging rights are right there people!) in 23.20 minutes. Yes I know I have to run tomorrow.
Saturday: Bona fide SLACKER!!! Yep that is me, it's 4:40pm and I am still in my pj's and proud of it. Feeling slightly guilty about not running today but not guilty enough to actually do it and believe me I somewhat attempted too....ok I actually just opened the drawers that hold my running clothes and quickly shut them. Even Ms Bre was no help, she picked out a shirt, threw it at me and walked off. Completely hopeless I tell ya....

Awe week 8 so nice to see you

Technically this is the last week of my Couch to 5K training, next weeks schedule is to run a 5K, but since I haven't signed up for a race I guess you will have to wait and see what I do next week!

Workout 1 and 2 are to run 2.75 miles or 28 minutes and workout 3 is to run 3 miles or 30 minutes. Each workout should start with a 5 minute warm-up and end with a 5 minute cool-down.

Sunday: day off
Monday: 3.46 miles in 38 minutes
Tuesday: day off
Wednesday: 3.53 miles in 38 minutes
Thursday: day off
Friday: 3.63 miles in 40 minutes
Saturday: day off, do you like how I decided I wasn't going to run on Saturday the day before? yea me too!

Total miles this week 10.62.

Workout summary week 2

Even though Breanna is out of school this week, I am not going to let that interfere with working out. It may alter it a bit, but I am not going to let it be the reason to not do anything. So far I am off to a good start, even with Bre up, fully dressed, and ready for the day at 6AM on Monday morning.

Sunday: Day off
Monday: Walking outside (with Ms B) 1.25 miles which took 28 minutes cause she walks slow and she really didn't want too! Also did 2.06 miles on the treadmill for week 2.1 of Cto5K.
Tuesday: Day off
Wednesday: Not feeling so great, feverish, nausea, headache for last two days, so I figured I might as well attempt to run this bug right out of me. Cto5K 2.2, 2.16 miles in 30 minutes.
Thursday: Day off
Friday: Pilates - On Demand program, beginners body/ Pilates, 36 minutes
Saturday: Cto5K 2.3, 2.3 miles in 31 minutes.

According to dailymile.com I ran 6.52 miles and my run on Friday put me at 300 miles for the year.

Me laying on the treadmill after my run.

Well hello treadmill...

I finally have enough stuff unpacked and put into its proper place (hopefully) and a free moment...actually not really a free moment, but the ability to take some time for myself without feeling guilty to exercise. While I don't give myself a lot of time, usually 30 minutes or less, I was able to

Monday: Pilates, a beginners program I found through On Demand
Tuesday: Pilates
Wednesday: Cleaned the garage, re-arranged furniture, along with several hours of other misc housework, so I AM adding this to my workout week (heck I probably should log every day since our stuff arrived as a workout...but I won't)
Thursday: Couch to 5K, week 1.1, 26 minutes, 1.86 miles
Friday: Nothing...lazy bum
Saturday: Nothing, even bigger bum

Total running distance, per dailymile.com: 3.88 miles. Nothing really to brag about, but at least I am moving again (as in exercising not moving, moving!)

Workout 3/5-3/11

Since I am slacking at everything else, future blog to follow...sometime, I decided I might as well slack when it comes to me working out. Go me!!!

Last week the plan was to walk/run at least 4 times a week, preferably 5 (Monday through Friday), but here is what really happened.

Monday: 30 day shred, walk/ran 5.12 miles in 60 minutes which averaged a 11:43 pace.
Tuesday: 30 day shred, walk/ran 5.08 mile in 60 minutes which averaged a 11:48 pace.
Wednesday: Zumba
Thursday: not a dang thing
Friday: not a dang thing
Saturday: was my day off, ate what I wanted, refused to exercise, and refused to log anything on myfitnesspal.com
Sunday: not a dang thing

On Friday, I did break down and purchase a new fitness workout, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 for the Xbox. Let's see how this next week of working out goes...or doesn't, depending on what mode my 'slacker' button is on this week.